


The Art of Subtlety

by artemisia_HQ



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Accidental Coming Out, Clingyama is my kink sue me, Dumbasses trying and failing to be low-key in love, Fluff, Hinata is weak for his dorky boyfriend, Kagehina being soft boyfriends, M/M, Mentions of Sex, Secret Relationship, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, they just can't get enough of each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:07:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24107227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artemisia_HQ/pseuds/artemisia_HQ
Summary: It's not too bad, and Shouyou admits, there's a different kind of thrill being involved in a secret relationship. It's in the little, knowing smiles they give each other; Kageyama's lingering touches when he ruffles Shouyou's hair, fingers lightly tracing his ear when he retracts his hand; the constant roughhousing and bickering done mostly as an excuse to touch without raising suspicion; sleeping against each on bus rides, their hands linked and hidden out of sight under their jackets and bags. Once or twice, they get away with stealing small kisses when they're absolutely sure everyone is asleep.Maybe they're not doing so well with the no touching or kissing rule but holding back has never been in their forte in the first place.Keeping his romantic relationship with his supposed rival a secret has been a great struggle for Hinata, but Kageyama is there to help him through it. Or make it even more difficult.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio
Comments: 46
Kudos: 780
Collections: KageHina Fics





	The Art of Subtlety

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Back yet again with another soft, fluffy kagehina! ヽ( ･∀･)ﾉ
> 
> I was checking the notes on my phone when I stumbled across this old WIP. It's not really a groundbreaking, novel idea, but i just want to write about kagehina being dumb secret boyfriends incapable of holding back xD I can relate tho, cause this started as a drabble and before i knew it, it isn't anymore lol
> 
> ***
> 
> This is set sometime during their second year but not exactly relevant to the story (me low-key filling the void of the Lost Years™)

Anyone who knows Shouyou can say with absolute certainty that he’s not the type that can keep a secret. If he’s given a yen every time someone tells him he’s loud and talks too much and very easy to read, he’d probably be rich by now. And he admits it—subtlety just isn’t in his nature. So it is truly a miracle among miracles that he’s able to keep a tiny, little secret. A secret that’s been strictly under lock and key for about two months now.

He and Kageyama are dating.

A real shocker, isn’t it? Even Shouyou is still wondering how in the world that happened (well, he knows _how_ —Shouyou accidentally confessed to Kageyama during one of their extra practice sessions and Kageyama answered him by spiking a ball to his face, which he kissed shortly after) and it’s still so surreal when he thinks about it even after all this time (he's dating _Kageyama_? _The_ Kageyama Tobio? Really? Holy volleyball), but it is what it is and Shouyou is loving every second of this whole dating thing. Or maybe he just loves Kageyama.

What he doesn’t like, however, is keeping their relationship a secret, even though it was something they’ve both come into a mutual agreement with (a rarity, Shouyou agrees). They don’t know how their relationship could affect the team, how the other members would react, and if there’s some unwritten rule that teammates dating each other is illegal and taboo. It’s a hazardous risk they’re taking, but in spite of that, they are still together.

Notwithstanding, Shouyou had his doubts at first.

“I’m scared. What if they find out and they kick us out of the team?” Shouyou asked one night when he stayed over at Kageyama’s house. They were watching a replay of the World League and that awful thought just crawled uninvited in his mind.

He wiggled out of Kageyama’s hold from where they’re cuddled on his bed to face him. He could feel his stomach drop and his heart shrink painfully at the words he was about to say. “I-I understand if this is too much of a risk and we should just—”

Kageyama loosened his hold on Shouyou. “Are you breaking up with me?”

Shouyou shook his head, even though it’s exactly what he’s suggesting. He casted his eyes down and started picking on Kageyama’s light blue bedsheet. “I mean, I just think—”

“No. Whatever it is you’re thinking or is about to ask my answer is no.” A large hand rested over Shouyou’s to stop his fidgeting and another on his chin to tilt his head back up. “Why do I have to settle for one when I can have both?”

Right then and there, every last bit of doubt or uncertainty rolled off of Shouyou, the confidence in those ocean eyes washing it all away. And as if that wasn’t enough, Kageyama leaned in to press his lips against his, so tender and gentle and comforting, Shouyou could feel his heart melt into an indulgent, lovesick mess.

What was he thinking, that he could easily give up one of the two things that makes him inexplicably happy? How can he possibly let this— _Kageyama_ —go? But as always, Kageyama was the one who reassured him, to make him realize that he isn’t alone in this. They are together, in every sense, and Shouyou finally understood it then.

“I think that’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me,” he said with a teasing grin when they parted.

“Oh. So saying _‘I love you’_ before you sleep isn’t sweet?” Kageyama sounded genuinely confused and he pouted, the one Shouyou finds unbearably adorable.

He kissed the pout off of Poutyama's face and that was the end of it.

* * *

It’s hard, because as Shouyou pointed out earlier, he’s not exactly some master in the art of subtlety. So is Kageyama, and the big idiot has the same level of self-control in eating as he does with physical affections—which is approximately zero to none. He likes to kiss and hug Shouyou out of nowhere, a thing that annoys Shouyou to oblivion (he also secretly loves it, making it all the more annoying). One time, he kissed Shouyou in front of Sakanoshita while their teammates had their backs on them, and Shouyou was so startled that he slapped the living crap out of Kageyama. They had a fight about it, all the while Shouyou dabbed an ice pack on the red hand-shaped imprints on Kageyama’s cheeks.

But Shouyou isn’t exactly blameless, either. They were on a water break then, and the sight of Kageyama sipping on his water bottle, with his head tipped back and the way his lips latched on the bottle’s opening, water trailing down his chiseled jaw to the curve of his neck, drove Shouyou to abandon all common sense and rationality blaring warning signs inside his head and he kissed the moisture off of Kageyama’s stupid, red lips. They were _literally_ one breath away from making out if it wasn’t for shrill whistle signaling the end of the break. Good thing they were outside.

These unfortunate (or is it, really?) incidents have been happening more and more frequently, one edging closer on the verge of being found out. They've been _very_ lucky so far, but if they continue their carelessness like this, one small slip-up and the cat would be leaping right out of the bag. And Shouyou has this nagging suspicion that some of their teammates are unto them, especially Tsukishima. He would give them one of his narrowed, peering looks that seem to pierce right through Shouyou's soul every time he and Kageyama enter the clubroom or the gym together far later than they normally would.

Or maybe those inquisitive squints are accounted on their disheveled looks: uniforms all crumpled and wrinkled, Kageyama's usually well-kempt hair sticking in every direction like a certain _someone_ just combed their hands through it. Noya-san and Tanaka-san tease him about it, and Shouyou comes up with some ridiculous story of how Kageyama tripped on his feet and stumbled down the stairs, ending his elaborate tale with a laugh and a quip of ‘ _thank God he's still alive, right senpai?’_ Kageyama yells at him, and everyone is laughing and reminding Kageyama to be more careful, and while this Distraction Technique is in order, Shouyou tries to conspicuously hide the hickey on his shoulder while he changes into practice clothes. But curse that four-eyed beanpole Tsukishima who’s _still_ looking at them like he's just one step away from figuring it out, and they are most definitely, positively _screwed_.

So they made a set of ground rules that should be explicitly followed, no exceptions. Absolutely no hugging or kissing in public, no matter how intense and uncontrollable the urge is. This had been the basal rule from the start, but it desperately needs reiteration since they keep breaking it every other day (mostly Kageyama's fault, and yes, they keep a tally). No coming in together in the club room, either, even if it's purely coincidental. And the most important rule of all: to never, ever, _ever_ do any… _sexy_ things while in school. Even in the bathrooms, or even if they're on cleaning and locking up duty and everyone else had gone home; even if Kageyama looks so ridiculously and unfairly hot with his face stippled with sweat, the way his breath comes in ragged pants and his shirt sticking to his body and highlighting his back muscles and his hard, sculpted abs that Shouyou's small hands like to take a little cruise all over while he—

 _Nope_ , no leeny thoughts.

These rules are no small feats to accomplish given who they are, but they manage to work their way through it, and thankfully, their efforts are not being wasted. Tsukishima ultimately stopped giving them weird, scrutinizing gazes, reverting back to the disinterested, mildly annoyed one they're accustomed to, and Shouyou never thought he'd be relieved to have that kind of look trained on him again. Their other teammates are none the wiser, and that's definitely good. They just have to keep this up for the next year or so.

It's not too bad, and Shouyou admits, there's a different kind of thrill being involved in a secret relationship. It's in the little, knowing smiles they give each other; Kageyama's lingering touches when he ruffles Shouyou's hair, fingers lightly tracing his ear when he retracts his hand; the constant roughhousing and bickering done mostly as an excuse to touch without raising suspicion; sleeping against each on bus rides, their hands linked and hidden out of sight under their jackets and bags. Once or twice, they get away with stealing small kisses when they're absolutely sure everyone is asleep.

Maybe they're not doing so well with the no touching or kissing rule but holding back has never been in their forte in the first place, and if it weren’t for these compromises to somehow help alleviate the starving need to be touched, they both would've withered in agonizing torture a long time ago.

Spending lunch break together on the rooftop is one of Shouyou’s favorite compromises and he looks forward to it almost as much as he does to volleyball practice. It's calm and relaxing, not just the way the soft, caressing way the breeze hits his face, but more because this is only the time he can let loose a part of himself, a part no one else has yet to see, except the person it's meant to. Here, they can bicker and argue over who's got the best-tasting lunch and settling the feud with Shouyou shoving a karaage on Kageyama's mouth both to shut him up and prove his point. Kageyama chews in that dumb (adorable) way of his, and he agrees that _'that was delicious, give me more,'_ and Shouyou would grumble and be stingy about it, but eventually giving in when Kageyama starts to pout and sulk.

It's nice, just being with Kageyama like this, with his head lying comfortably on Shouyou's lap, eyes closed and humming under his breath as Shouyou absent-mindedly combs through his smooth raven hair. After all the restraints and constrictions they've imposed upon themselves, all the frustrations that have been building up and bubbling under their skin, quiet moments like this are all the more appreciated—to Shouyou at least. And he supposes Kageyama feels the same, as he starts to play with Shouyou's fingers, clasping and unclasping and eventually intertwining them in between his longer ones, a soft, small smile painting his face as he does. It’s the smile Shouyou knows is just for _him_ , and the corner of his own mouth lifts almost in response.

"Training camp is starting again soon," Shouyou says, fingers still running through Kageyama's hair.

"Hmm."

"Are you excited?"

"Of course, dumbass.” Kageyama is trying to sound annoyed but Shouyou doesn't miss the wobbly grin of his mouth.

It's a stupid question, Shouyou has to agree, because _he's_ excited, he's already packed for the trip, and it really goes without saying that Kageyama is, too. But there's something that's been bothering Shouyou, a weird churning in his stomach that doesn't have to do with the nervous kind of excitement that comes with the prospect of going against strong players, and playing matches after matches until their legs give out.

"I'm excited, too, but I'm also kind of nervous," Shouyou admits out loud.

Kageyama shifts to his side and nuzzles his face in Shouyou's stomach, arms winding around his waist. "Since when are you not nervous? Just shit it out or something before the games like you usually do," he mumbles in Shouyou's uniform shirt.

"We really need to have another talk about your potty mouth," Shouyou teases as he pokes Kageyama's cheek. "I'm not talking about the matches, stupid. I'm talking about—" he makes wild hand gestures in the air "—this. Us."

"What about it?"

"I mean, we have to keep our guard up more than usual and we can't really have some _'alone time'_ either."

Kageyama doesn't answer and instead, presses his face further in Shouyou's abdomen. It takes ten more seconds for Shouyou's words to finally seep past Kageyama's sleepy haze and into his area of comprehension, and he shoots up like a firework going off.

"Does that mean we can't fuck?!"

Shouyou is half a mind to fling himself off the rooftop if his flaming face burning his skin doesn't get to him first. "Vulgar! And that's really where your mind first went to? You pervert!"

"But that's what you're saying, right?"

" _Ugh!_ Yes! Among other things!" He buries his tomato red face in his palms. "I hate you."

"You don't mean that," Kageyama says as his slender fingers wrap around Shouyou's wrists, attempting to free his face from the confines of his hands.

Shouyou shakes his head, but still stubbornly refuses to meet Kageyama's gaze. "Are volleyball and sex all you think about?"

"You can't blame me, I like having sex with you."

Shouyou's face has probably transferred to his palms by how much he's pressing into it. Or it's already melted because his skin is scorching in embarrassment. "Oh my god, please _stop_."

"And you're wrong. That's _not_ all I think about."

Shouyou finally releases his face from his hands to glare at Kageyama. "Oh, sorry. I forgot one thing. Volleyball and sex and _food_ are all you think about,” he grouches with a roll of his eyes.

"Wrong again." Kageyama releases Shouyou's wrists to cup his face instead, thumbs smoothing through his flushed cheeks. "You. You're all I think about. Not more than volleyball, though, but I can't really think of volleyball without thinking of you, and you're the one I'm having sex with, and we always eat together, and I can't think of those without you, either, so yeah..."

The way Kageyama started off chock-full of confidence then slowly and noticeably turning pink in embarrassment as he rambles on is probably the cutest _freaking_ thing Shouyou has ever seen and frown on his face morphs into a grin, escalating to a giggle.

" _Uwaaaaaaaah~ Kageyamaaaaaa~_ "

Kageyama goes full-blown firetruck red, and he flops back down on Shouyou's lap to hide his face.

"S-Shut up, don't you dare say anything."

Shouyou laughs as he tries to unlatch Kageyama from where he’s resolutely attached to Shouyou’s middle, pushing and tapping on his shoulders. “You _reaaaally_ must love me, huh?”

“Don't ask questions you know the answer to, dumbass,” Kageyama grumbles incoherently, then he finally turns around to look up at Shouyou.

A silent moment passes, of brown eyes blending with blue, and Shouyou bends down just as Kageyama’s hand reaches out to rest on his neck to pull him closer. Their lips meld over the other softly and gently, meant to be chaste and innocent, until Kageyama licks his way in Shouyou’s mouth, hand grabbing a fistful of hair to tilt Shouyou closer, the kiss morphing into something deeper and more stirring, but still so very sweet.

Lunch _really_ is one of Shouyou's favorite times of the day.

“I don’t actually mind if we can’t have some private time,” Kageyama says as they descend down from the rooftop just as the bell rings for the afternoon classes.

Shouyou’s head tilts in confusion as he falls in pace beside Kageyama. “You don’t?”

Kageyama shrugs. “It’s just for a week. I think I can manage.” He shoots Shouyou with a smirk. Not just any smirk, though: it’s his stupid _‘I’m challenging you, dumbass’_ smirk. “Can you?”

Shouyou huffs. “Of course! I’m not a pervert like you!”

“I mean, I can probably find an empty classroom—”

His pervert of a boyfriend doesn’t get to finish his sentence when Shouyou smacks him upside his gutter-filled head.

* * *

In their defense, it was completely unintentional. It happened spontaneously, a force of habit, kindled by the heat of the moment.

Three days into training camp and they’ve been doing great, both in their scrimmages and in keeping their relationship a secret, and despite Shouyou’s initial worry, the way they deal with it is actually not that different from what they’ve been doing—they still follow the same ground rules. No kissing or touching, although Kageyama was actually serious about finding an empty classroom. But they do nothing beyond making out; their fear of getting caught and the highly likely possibility of one of the fifty guys they’re in camp with accidentally walking in on them is far too great, and they step on their brakes as soon as things start to get a bit too heated.

Volleyball is a good distraction, a lot of the teams are really strong this year, and the new set of attacks their own team is trying is proving to be effective, especially the ones he and Kageyama are working on. It’s what they came here for in the first place, to improve, to learn, and Shouyou is determined to come out of this camp with all of his weapons sharpened to a deadly point in time for Spring High.

Shouyou’s mind is giddily racing at the thought of Karasuno smashing their way through the qualifiers like _baaam!_ and _duuuun!,_ his head is so far up into the clouds, and the next thing he knows, he’s spilled his entire water bottle on his futon, and Kageyama is yelling at him and Shouyou yells back and Tanaka-san yells at them both to shut up.

“I just asked Shinzen’s coach and they don’t have any extra futons,” Ennoshita-san informs them forlornly the moment he returns. “You just have to share with someone, Hinata.”

All eyes on the room fall on Kageyama, and admittedly, so do Shouyou’s. Kageyama just blinks at them like the obtuse idiot he is, but when realization finally strikes him, his eyes go cartoonishly round, and his face turns pink to red in a split-second.

Shouyou has to physically restrain himself from face-palming. Really, this dumb idiot can say all those vulgarities, yet he still gets embarrassed by the most random thing.

"W-why me?!" Kageyama bursts out the same time Shouyou shrieks, "W-why Kageyama?!" But their protests are all for naught when Ennoshita-san threatens to bench them for tomorrow's games if they don't settle down soon, and they quickly scrabble into Kageyama's futon.

Shouyou's hands are twitching, _heck_ , his _whole body_ practically is, and it’s taking all of his mental strength not to give in to the bursting want to curl up against Kageyama, to tuck his head on the other boy’s chest, and feel the comfortable warmth emitting from his skin, the steady, calming thuds of his heart.

It's torture—Kageyama is right _there,_ yet Shouyou can't even do any of that. And to make matters worse, Kageyama seems unaffected at all. He's laying straight on his back, and when he meets Shouyou's eyes from where he’s looking at him from the corner of his eyes, the dumb jerk clicks his tongue and turns to his side, facing away from Shouyou.

 _Oh, that's how it's gonna be, huh_ , Shouyou grits in his mind, annoyance flaring up, ignoring the tight clenching in his chest. With a huff, he turns the opposite direction with as much wiggling and unnecessary movements as he does, and tugs hard on their shared blanket. He knows he's being petty about this, he knows that Kageyama is just putting on an act, but _dammit_ , that hurts more than Shouyou likes to admit. He pulls on the blanket again to hide his face, scrunching his eyes shut to stop the tears prickling on the corners.

"Stop hogging the blanket, dumbass," Kageyama snaps from somewhere on his back as he yanks on the blanket, so forceful that it leaves half of Shouyou uncovered.

Oh, it is _so_ on, _Bakageyama_.

Shouyou tugs back, coupled with a sharp nudge on what he presumes is Kageyama's shoulder blades. "You're the hogger, you—you hog!"

"This is my blanket!"

Tug.

"Then learn to share, Stingyama!"

Pull.

"You stu— _fine_! There! Don't you _dare_ pull it again!"

"Fine! Thank you very much!"

"Fine!"

"Good night! I love you!"

"I fucking love you, too!"

Shouyou settles back on his side with an obnoxious _humph!_ but the corners of his lips lift up as he closes his eyes. Finally satiated and appeased, he starts to drift in the edge of sleepiness when the searing hot rod called realization pokes at his butt, and his eyes snap open.

He bolts upright and screeches, the same time Kageyama does.

"IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!"

Everything halts to a pin drop silence as faces of shock stares back at them, all wide-eyed and slaw jacked. Shouyou sits frozen like a statue, his tongue numb and fat and sticking resolutely on the roof of his mouth as his mind scrambles for something— _anything_ —else to say, to salvage the situation he knows is beyond saving.

The impending tears that have been held back are threatening to make a reappearance and his shaky hand blindly starts to clutch on the blanket. But Kageyama's hand grabs hold of him instead, tight and warm, and so very _there_ , and when Shouyou directs his misty eyes up, those deep blue eyes stare back at him, full of silent reassurance, yet can he hear it loud and clear.

_I'm here._

With a bone-crushing squeeze, Kageyama lifts their joined hands, and says in his most uninterested, nonchalant voice, "Yeah, I'm dating this dumbass. What about it?"

And the room explodes with cheers when Shouyou pounces on Kageyama and kisses the dumb, dopey smile on his crimson red face.

**Author's Note:**

> Between you and me, no one can tell us this didn't happen in canon (･ω<)☆
> 
> ***
> 
> I love getting feedbacks, and they motivate me tremendously, so drop them in the comments! Kudos are also appreciated :) Thank you for reading! ♥️
> 
> scream about kagehina or hq in general with me on my [twitter](https://twitter.com/artemisia_hq?s=09) or [tumblr](https://artemisia--hq.tumblr.com)
> 
> i have more self-indulgent kagehinas in a mixed bag of fluff, smut, and everything in between [here](https://archiveofourown.org/users/artemisia_HQ/works)


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